Business
Page: 290
Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) has announced a worldwide publishing agreement with Sabrina Carpenter, Billboard can announce exclusively. The news comes in between international stadium dates for Carpenter, who is opening for Taylor Swift‘s Eras tour through the remainder of the year. “I am so thrilled to have joined the UMPG family and to be […]
Interscope has a signed a partnership with Los CT, the record label launched by new regional Mexican music star Natanael Cano, a pioneer of the corrido tumbado movement. The deal will bring in Los CT artists Gabito Ballesteros, Alejandro Buelna, Tyan G, Amillkar Galaviz, Luis Castillo, Nueva Era, Cocho, Herencia LP and Delilah under the […]
Warner Music Latina has named Francisco Granados the label’s new senior vice president of A&R, Billboard has learned. Granados, who previously served as director of A&R at Warner Music México, will be responsible for spearheading Warner Latina’s artistic discovery and nurturing musical talents in the U.S., according to a press release issued Thursday (Oct. 12). […]
SESAC Performing Rights has chosen the private company Soundreef to manage its offline performing rights in Italy, withdrawing them from SIAE, the Italian collective management organization. Although the EU rights collections market has been open for a decade – the national societies are no longer national monopolies, especially when it comes to online rights – this is one of the larger moves so far. SIAE was founded in 1882 – Soundreef in 2012.
“It’s very rational,” Alex Wolf, president of international of the SESAC Music Group, tells Billboard. “What made us change is, we were very convinced about their IT, their administration and their management.”
This is the first time one of the ten biggest performing rights organizations (PROs) has withdrawn its repertoire from one of the major European societies in favor of a relatively young, private company. Italy is the sixth largest rights collections market in the world, according to CISAC’s data from 2021, the last year for which information is available.
This shows how competitive the rights market is becoming – especially, but not only, in Europe. SESAC is the third-biggest rights collection entity in the U.S., and it is building an international operation – much of it international. Some of this is through MINT, a joint venture with the Swiss society SUISA that manages Soundreef repertoire online in much of the world. Although that deal is completely separate, Wolf says he respected how Soundreef operated.
“You get a good insight into how a company works,” he says.
Soundreef is a Rome-based private company that initially focused on background music, then raised investment money to expand in 2016. It now has 40,000 affiliates, 26,000 of whom are Italian.
“We thought we could create a different system where technology was at the center of the operation,” said Soundreef CEO Davide d’Atri. “That means three things: analytical distribution, where what is played is paid; transparency, and quick payment.”
Analytical distribution essentially means reducing the amount of royalties that are distributed statistically, as opposed to tracked directly. D’Atri says that Soundreef distributes 85% of its payments this way, while some societies pay out as much as 60% based on statistics – extrapolating which songs are played in bars and restaurants by tracking which are played on radio or television, for example.
“Some of the bigger societies are very efficient,” d’Atri says, “but others sit on a lot of money” that can’t be directly attributed to specific rightsholders. Soundreef, he added, is now trying to attract other Anglo-American companies.
A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments Thursday in a case filed by TikTok and five Montana content creators who want the court to block the state’s ban on the video sharing app before it takes effect Jan. 1.
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula is not expected to rule immediately on the request for a preliminary injunction.
Montana became the first state in the U.S. to pass a complete ban on the app, based on the argument that the Chinese government could gain access to user information from TikTok, whose parent company, ByteDance, is based in Beijing.
Content creators say the ban violates free speech rights and could cause economic harm for their businesses.
TikTok said in court filings that the state passed its law based on “unsubstantiated allegations,” that Montana cannot regulate foreign commerce and that the state could have passed a law requiring TikTok limit the kinds of data it could collect, or require parental controls, rather than trying to enact a complete ban.
Western governments have expressed worries that the popular social media platform could put sensitive data in the hands of the Chinese government or be used as a tool to spread misinformation. Chinese law allows the government to order companies to help it gather intelligence.
TikTok, which is negotiating with the federal government over its future in the U.S., has denied those allegations. But that hasn’t made the issue go away.
In a first-of-its kind report on Chinese disinformation released last month, the U.S. State Department alleged that ByteDance seeks to block potential critics of Beijing, including those outside of China, from using its platforms.
The report said the U.S. government had information as of late 2020 that ByteDance “maintained a regularly updated internal list” identifying people who were blocked or restricted from its platforms — including TikTok — “for reasons such as advocating for Uyghur independence.”
More than half of U.S. states and the federal government have banned TikTok on official devices. The company has called the bans “political theatre” and says further restrictions are unnecessary due to the efforts it is taking to protect U.S. data by storing it on Oracle servers.
The bill was brought to the Montana Legislature after a Chinese spy balloon flew over the state.It would prohibit downloads of TikTok in the state and fine any “entity” — an app store or TikTok — $10,000 per day for each time someone “is offered the ability” to access or download the app. There would not be penalties for users.
The American Civil Liberties Union, its Montana chapter and Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital privacy rights advocacy group, have submitted an amicus brief in support of the challenge. Meanwhile, 18 attorneys generals from mostly Republican-led states are backing Montana and asking the judge to let the law be implemented. Even if that happens, cybersecurity experts have said it could be challenging to enforce.
In asking for the preliminary injunction, TikTok argued that the app has been in use since 2017 and letting Montanans continue to use it will not harm the state.
Montana did not identify any evidence of actual harm to any resident as a result of using TikTok and even delayed the ban’s effective date until Jan. 1, 2024, the company said.
The RIAA has asked to have AI voice cloning added to the government’s piracy watch list, officially known as the Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy.
The RIAA typically writes in each year, requesting forms of piracy like torrenting, stream ripping, cyber lockers and free music downloading to be included in the final list. All of these categories of piracy are still present in the RIAA’s letter to the U.S. Trade Representative this year, but this is the first time the trade organization, which represents the interest of record labels, has added a form of generative AI to their recommendations.
The RIAA noted that it believes AI voice cloning, also referred to as ‘AI voice synthesis’ or ‘AI voice filters,’ infringes on their members’ copyrights and the artists’ rights to their voices and calls out one U.S.-based AI voice cloning site, Voicify.AI as one that should specifically face scrutiny.
According to the letter, Voicify.AI’s service includes voice models that emulate sound recording artists like Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Elvis Presley, Bruno Mars, Eminem, Harry Styles, Adele, Ed Sheeran, and others, as well as political figures including Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Barak Obama.
The RIAA claims that this type of service infringes on copyrights because it “stream-rips the YouTube video selected by the user, copies the acapella from the track, modifies the acapella using the AI vocal model, and then provides the user unauthorized copies of the modified acapella stem, the underlying instrumental bed, and the modified remixed recording.” Essentially, some of these AI voice cloning sites train its models on stolen copyrights.
It additionally claims that there is a violation pf the artists’ right of publicity, the right that protects public figures from having their name, likeness, and voice commercially exploited without their permission. This is a more tenuous right, given it is only a state-level protection and its strength varies by state. It also becomes more limited after a public figure’s death. However, this is possibly the most common legal argument against AI voice cloning technology in the music business.
This form of artificial intelligence first became widely recognized last spring, when an anonymous TikTok user named Ghostwriter used AI to mimic the voices of Drake and The Weeknd in his song “Heart On My Sleeve” with shocking precision. The song was briefly available on streaming services, like YouTube, but was taken down after a stern letter from the artists’ label, Universal Music Group. However, the song was ultimately removed from official services due to a copyright infringement in the track, not because of a right of publicity claim.
A few months later, Billboard reported that streamers were in talks with the three major label groups about allowing them to file take down requests for right of publicity violations — something which previously was only allowed in cases of copyright infringement as dictated in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Unlike the DMCA, the newly discussed arrangement regarding right of publicity issues would be a voluntary one. In July, UMG’s general counsel and executive vp of business and legal affairs, Jeffery Harleston, spoke as a witness in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on AI and copyright and asked for a new “federal right of publicity” to be made into law to protect artists’ voices.
An additional challenge in regulating this area is that many AI models available on the internet for global users are not based in the U.S., meaning the U.S. government has little recourse to stop their alleged piracy, even if alerted by trade organizations like the RIAA. Certain countries are known to be more relaxed on AI regulation — like China, Israel, South Korea, Japan, and Singapore — which has created safe havens for AI companies to grow abroad.
The U.S. Trade Representative still must review this letter from the RIAA as well as other recommendations from other industry groups and determine whether or not they believe AI voice cloning should be included on the watchlist. The office will likely issue their final review at the start of next year.
HIFI, a financial services startup catering to the music business, has been acquired by Block, the payments technology company launched by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. A person with knowledge of the transaction tells Billboard the deal closed on Tuesday (Oct. 10). Launched in 2020, HIFI allows clients to track their royalty income from a variety […]
The escalating legal battle between Coldplay and its former manager Dave Holmes significantly stepped up this month when the band filed a counterclaim lawsuit in the U.K. courts seeking £14 million ($17 million) in damages.
The court filing comes two months after Holmes announced he was suing the four members of Coldplay — Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Chris Martin — for more than £10 million ($12 million) in damages and unpaid commission relating to the band’s yet-to-be-released 10th and 11th studio albums.
Having examined legal papers filed in the U.K. courts on behalf of both parties, here’s Billboard’s rundown of everything we know so far about the acrimonious dispute between Holmes and his former star clients.
Why Holmes and Coldplay fell out after more than 20 years of success together
Although the precise cause of the fallout between Holmes and Coldplay is not detailed in either lawsuit, legal papers filed by the group’s attorneys on Oct. 5 state that the band made the decision to dismiss the manager last summer following “a period of increasing concern” about his conduct. (Holmes’ position as the group’s manager officially came to an end Dec. 31, 2022).
In particular, the four band members allege that Holmes breached his contractual obligations by “failing” to adequately manage costs for the group’s 2022-2023 Music of the Spheres World Tour leading them to suffer “significant financial losses.”
“Unjustified” touring costs
Examples of financial mismanagement cited in the countersuit include spending 10.5 million euros ($11 million) on the construction of 16 bespoke stage pylons and commissioning the manufacture of a bespoke audio-visual “Jet Screen” at a total cost of $9.7 million that was only used for 10 shows in 2022. Another third-party supplier, listed in legal papers as TAIT, was paid $8.8 million to construct staging for the tour.
Coldplay’s attorneys say that those costs were “disproportionate and unjustified” and, as a result of Holmes’ “failing adequately to supervise and control” the tour budget, the band incurred at least £17.5 million ($21.5 million) in costs “which would otherwise have been avoided.”
That version of events is disputed by sources close to Holmes who deny that the former manager was responsible for tour costs overrunning. Instead, people familiar with the situation tell Billboard that many production decisions relating to the Music of the Spheres were made under the guidance of the band’s long-term creative director Phil Harvey, who has co-managed the band since last summer (following Holmes’ exit) alongside Mandi Frost and Arlene Moon.
Live Nation loans
Coldplay’s lawsuit claims that Holmes breached his fiduciary duties by using his association with the act to borrow a total of $30 million in low interest loans from Live Nation to fund a personal property development venture in Canada. The loans were not fully disclosed to the group and, as such, were secured without its informed consent, claim the four members.
Coldplay’s attorneys argue that these loans – set at a fixed annual interest rate of 2.72% – placed Holmes in a potential conflict of interest when it came to securing the best possible deal for his clients from Live Nation.
At the time when Holmes was negotiating a deal with Live Nation in 2021 and 2022 to exclusively promote Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour outside of the United Kingdom, the manager owed the touring giant approximately $27 million, the court filing alleges.
In response, the band is asking the courts to grant it access to Holmes’ financial accounts detailing any profits resulting from the low interest loans and the payment of any monies due to them.
The so-called “Albums 10/11 Agreement”
Holmes’ lawsuit against his former clients’ centers around a proposed contract extension (the so-called “Albums 10/11 Agreement”) that he claims Coldplay entered into in 2021 with his California-based management company, DHMC, relating to its yet-to-be-released tenth and eleventh studio albums.
Attorneys for Holmes claim he is owed outstanding commission from record company advances the manager negotiated on the band’s behalf with its label, Warner Music Group-owned Parlophone Records. Those advances totaled £35 million ($44 million) for Coldplay’s 10th album and £15 million ($19 million) each for the group’s subsequent two studio albums.
In return, Holmes received two payments in 2021 of £1.5 ($1.9 million), each equivalent to a 10% commission fee, state the court documents. However, his attorneys claim he is still due outstanding payment from the remainder of the record company advances paid to Coldplay.
Clearing samples, arranging recording sessions and recruiting Max Martin as producer
Holmes’ lawsuit additionally claims he is due payment for “extensive services” his company carried out for the 10th and 11th albums (and related tours) prior to his termination as manager.
These services include arranging writing and recording sessions in Jamaica and London, clearing an instrumental sample from musician Hal Walker, arranging a recording session on a film set in Boston, and liaising with producer Max Martin’s manager to arrange recording and production sessions.
Holmes says his team also worked on planning promotional campaigns, as well as scheduling, marketing, budgeting, sponsorship and ticket pricing for the United States, Asia and Australia legs of the Music of the Spheres World Tour.
Attorneys for Coldplay’s four founding members dispute their former manager’s claim and say that negotiations between the two parties broke down before “any such agreement might have been signed.”
In its defense and counterclaim filing, the band is seeking repayment of £3 million ($3.7 million) paid to DHMC in 2021 as advances for the band’s 10th album.
What Holmes and Coldplay are saying outside of court
On Coldplay’s part, very little. When Holmes’ lawsuit was filed in August a representative for the band confirmed with Billboard that Holmes’ management contract with the four-piece expired at the end of 2022 “at which point they decided not to start a new one. The matter is now in the hands of Coldplay’s lawyers and the claims are being vigorously disputed.” Representatives of the group declined to comment when contacted by Billboard this week about Coldplay counterclaim lawsuit.
Responding to Coldplay’s legal action, which is dated Oct. 5, a spokesperson for their former manager said, “Accusing Dave Holmes of non-existent ethical lapses and other made-up misconduct will not deflect from the real issue at hand: Coldplay had a contract with Dave, they are refusing to honor it and they need to pay Dave what they owe him.”
The matter will now proceed through the U.K. courts unless a settlement can be reached.
Quincy Jones said it best,” explains Nile Rodgers: “A producer of a record is like the director of a film.” From his first production credits on tracks by Luther Vandross, Sister Sledge and Diana Ross to his more recent work with Beyoncé, Daft Punk and Coldplay, Rodgers is one of the rare producers who bridges the gap between the classic understanding of a record producer and today’s digital music-maker.
In the 20th century, Rodgers and his contemporaries recorded songs to lumbering rolls of tape, bringing the visions of artists and songwriters to life with their ornamentation, arrangement and technical skill. While that is still true for some producers, the trade has changed dramatically. Around the turn of the millennium, increasingly powerful DIY recording tools and the piracy-inflicted bust of the music business drove recording from fancy studios and into musicians’ homes — shifts that democratized who could be viewed as a producer and blurred the lines between the processes of songwriting and recording. How producers are compensated has also evolved, with greater distinctions for payment by genre, widely varying upfront fees and greater possibilities to earn publishing income than ever.
Producer Fees
The most reliable form of income for producers: a sum owed for their work before the song comes out. Fees tend to start around $15,000 to do a track for a major-label-affiliated pop or R&B/hip-hop artist; a superstar-level producer might charge up to $75,000 (or higher), but $30,000 to $40,000 is considered a good range for one who is well-established and working with a major-label act.
When producers work across an entire album of songs, it’s common to reduce per-track rates. “It might be $30,000 for the first three songs, $20,000 for the second two and $10,000 for the last song,” says Lucas Keller, founder of producer management firm Milk & Honey.
These fees are paid half upfront and half upon the delivery of a record that the label deems “commercially satisfactory.” While that first half is a producer’s to keep, the second is an advance against master royalties earned from the song. In today’s streaming economy, however, many tracks don’t recoup their fees.
Independent artists and/or those with little-to-no recording budget sometimes get more creative in paying producers what they are owed. Instead of a fee, “a lot of producers are getting 50% of the master monies, either in perpetuity or until the artist makes the producer’s fee back,” says Audrey Benoualid, partner at Myman Greenspan. Producers can also receive a fee under the aforementioned $15,000 for their work.
Points
The percentage of master royalties producers receive for their work. Earning from two to five percentage points of a record is common today, starting at two points for a newcomer and four to five for a well-established, in-demand producer. This amount is subtracted from the act’s percentage share of the recording; labels aren’t expected to cede any of their share to compensate a producer.
In rare cases, a superstar talent may command six to eight points: Rodgers and his manager, Hipgnosis founder and CEO Merck Mercuriadis, confirm that, on average, Rodgers earns six points, but every song is a unique negotiation. As Keller explains, things can get more complicated when two producers are involved: “Let’s say two sizable producers want four points each. We likely won’t get to take eight all together, so what about we try to split six points down the middle?”
Publishing
Because modern musicians often write and record as they go, the line between songwriter and producer is blurrier than ever. Many creatives that are now primarily classified as producers are also part of the songwriting process — and these multihyphenates earn publishing in addition to fees and points.
“Back in the day, when people talked about what a songwriter did, it was the guy who wrote melody, lyrics and chords. Today, if you come up with the beat, like many producers do, you can also be credited as a songwriter,” Mercuriadis says.
This is especially true in hip-hop. Michael Sukin, a top music attorney who has worked in the business since the 1970s, credits the genre’s emergence as a big part of redefining what a producer does. Timmy Haehl, senior director of publishing at Big Machine’s Los Angeles office, says, “In hip-hop, publishing is sometimes split down the middle: 50% for the top line, 50% for the track.” (In pop and other genres, there isn’t a standard amount of publishing a producer-songwriter can expect; that share of the composition is negotiated on a case-by-case basis.)
Extra Earnings
Some producers can pocket extra income through neighboring rights — performance royalties earned on the master side of income in many countries outside the United States. This, however, “has to be for a qualified record or qualified person,” Benoualid says. “You can’t be a U.S. citizen, unless you record in London and the studio is credited on the album — then you qualify for neighboring rights there.”
Producers in the United States qualify to earn a similar (but more limited) royalty from their masters playing on digital radio stations like SiriusXM, Pandora and other noninteractive digital transmissions. This is paid by SoundExchange, but producers aren’t entitled to this income unless the artists they worked with tell SoundExchange to pay the producers part of their royalty directly.
Nowadays, veteran hit-makers like Dr. Luke and Max Martin may also sign protégés to production deals or joint ventures with publishers to earn additional income, allowing them to, as Keller puts it, “amass a huge catalog with real enterprise value.” The younger producers, in exchange for part of their monies, in turn get introductions to, Haehl says, “people in [the veteran hit-makers’] network [and] special opportunities with artists.”
This story originally appeared in the Oct. 7, 2023, issue of Billboard.
Whether you’re a math-and-science whiz or an intuitive creative, there’s a prestigious audio engineering program that can prepare you for a career as a producer — or for whatever studio path you might follow — while emphasizing a well-rounded education in the process.
Here’s a selection of some of the best academic programs, along with sage professional advice from those who lead them.
Belmont University Audio Engineering Technology
The program: Heavy on math and science, the curriculum teaches students to design systems, components and processes and prepare for careers as recording-studio and live-sound engineers and audio-software designers. “If it makes a noise or records a sound, somebody has to think about it, create it, program it, build it, use it, apply it,” program chair Michael Janas says.
The skills producers need most now: “Motivation. If they’re trying to force themselves as a square peg into a round hole, they’re going to struggle.”
Berklee College Of Music Music Production and Engineering
The program: Working with artists, writers and other engineers, students learn technical skills (microphone placement, signal flow) and personal skills (critical listening, communication). “Reading the room, leveraging the strengths of artists, how you speak to people, deliver bad news — these are incredibly sensitive, difficult things,” program chair Rob Jaczko says. (Alums include Charlie Puth and Abe Laboriel Jr., Paul McCartney’s longtime drummer.)
The skills producers need most now: “Understanding the business landscape. We all need to have a better understanding of how we monetize our work.”
Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, New York University
The program: With six available studios, students here learn everything they need to know about becoming a producer or engineer — except for heavy-duty technical instruction. “We want to get them up and running and confident,” says Nick Sansano, program chair. “We’re not necessarily teaching them all the mathematics and circuitry.”
The top issues facing producers now: “Lack of access to money. You need some support to get things off the ground.”
Drexel University Recording Arts and Music Production
The program: Students learn the basics of recording, production, arranging, composition, postproduction, mixing and mastering. In one sound-recording course, experienced artists (recently, members of John Legend’s band) work with students directly. After their sophomore year, students spend the summer working in live-sound engineering or another music-business sector. “They can go out and explore an area,” says Ryan Moys, who oversees the RAMP curriculum. “Sometimes you figure out what you don’t like.”
The skills producers need most now: “Knowing different software platforms: We teach Pro Tools, Ableton and Logic. And great communication skills. It all comes back to you’ve got to be a cool person to hang out with.”
Fredonia, State University of New York (SUNY)Sound Recording Technology
The program: Drawing from European “tonmeister” curricula of the 1940s, which combine technical and musical instruction, the 35-year-old SRT program offers training in studio hardware, live sound, recording, editing, signal processing and sound reinforcement. “[Bachelor’s of science students] have a fairly good handle on the science side of the recording business,” says Bernd Gottinger, the professor who oversees the degree.
The top issues facing producers now: “Responsibility and trust. Gaining that trust is probably the most difficult achievement you can look at as a producer. Usually, it gets established by long years of working in a different world, until the band says, ‘Listen, you’ve been doing these recordings for us for 20 years, why don’t you actually produce them for us?’”
Frost School Of Music, University Of Miami Music Engineering
The program: Developed in 1977, Frost centers on a recording studio with three full-size consoles. “Half our students end up at a company, like Dolby or Bose or Amazon Lab126 or Shure,” department chair Christopher Bennett says. “They work on the innards of devices that end up in the studios.”
The skills producers need most now: “The more you can learn under the hood, the better engineer or producer you’ll be. If they understand things like room acoustics and theory, it empowers them to make more creative choices.”
Jacobs School Of Music, Indiana University Bloomington Audio Engineering and Sound Production
The program: Among IU’s 1,600 music students, prospective engineers and producers get hands-on experience in pursuit of their 80-recording-hours-per-semester standard as part of this 41-year-old program. “That level of responsibility makes a big difference,” department chair Michael Stucker says.
The skills producers need most now: “Signal flow is a concept that’s really important to us. Physics and acoustics as well.”
Middle Tennessee State University Audio Production
The program: With five recording studios, plus a postproduction studio and separate labs for mixing, mastering and electronic music, students learn mixing and sound reinforcement and put on end-of-semester shows for live audiences. “We don’t really think of ourselves as training people for a job as a music producer,” says Bill Crabtree, director of the master of fine arts program in recording arts and technologies. “That’s not the kind of entry-level job you’re going to get right after college. It takes a while.” (Alums include Luke Laird, who has written No. 1 hits for Carrie Underwood and Eric Church, among others.)
The top issue facing producers now: “Artificial intelligence has the potential to disrupt a lot of things. However, it will be a tool. Having those skills — we think that’s important.”
Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology (OIART)
The program: OIART emphasizes highly technical skills for careers in music production and audio engineering and recording. “We’re not selling dreams of gold records. We’re very realistic with our employment goals and the types of careers students can expect,” says Lee While, OIART’s chief operating officer.
The skills producers need most now: “The student group has aspirations to work in a major studio and be a producer. But somebody who aspires to be a hip-hop producer suddenly discovers they have a real talent for sound design for video games.”
Peabody Institute, Johns HopkinsMusic Engineering and Technology
The program: Bachelor’s degree programs range from highly technical, five-year studies emphasizing electrical engineering, math, science and computer science to a two-year graduate program working with classical ensembles and rock bands. “Some find, ‘I’m interested in how loudspeakers are designed or getting into programming with signal processing,’ ” program chair Scott Metcalfe says. “Others embrace their composition side.”
The skills producers need most now: “Musicianship. Understanding the goal of the artist and what the market is.”
Purchase College, State University Of New York Studio Production
The program: With nine studios at their disposal, students get hands-on experience, from arranging their own pieces to engineering sound in the Dolby Atmos format, in genres from classical to hip-hop. “We want them to be able to do everything. We don’t want people to be button-pushers,” says Peter Denenberg, coordinator of the music and technology program. (Alums include Grammy Award-winning jazz singer Samara Joy.)
The top issue facing producers now: “Being forced to deliver projects in spatial audio is an incredibly difficult ask. It just adds a level of complexity and difficulty.”
Steinhardt School Of Culture, Education And Human Development, New York University Music Technology
The program: Director Paul Geluso says graduates of the program are “skilled professionals” who know hardware and software product design, audio engineering, and performance and composition: “The students do a little bit of everything their first two years and [then] they gravitate to one area.”
The skills producers need most now: “Our students take theory and history. We’re definitely music-first in our approach to our engineering side.”
Thornton School Of Music, University Of Southern California Music Technology
The program: Offering a bachelor’s degree in music production and minors in production and recording, Thornton emphasizes songwriting. “We build this program around our students being strong musicians with a technical inclination,” program chair Rick Schmunk says. “They can write the song, arrange it, produce it, record, edit, mix, master.”
The skills producers need most now: “Arranging and songwriting. We don’t have much trouble finding students with enough technical skills to be effective.”
A version of this story originally appeared in the Oct. 7, 2023, issue of Billboard.